I LOVE to grow my own herbs and veggies, and I almost always have the worst luck with my jalapeño plants. This year I decided to try a different strain of pepper, and went with the El Jefe Pepper. It's similar in heat to a jalapeño, but the peppers aren't mature until they turn a vibrant red.This year was like christmas for me, because I have harvested peppers THREE times from one plant! Usually my pepper plants die horrible deaths before they can even give me one pepper. That wasn't the case this year.

The first time I made El Jefe Poppers (a take on the jalapeño popper), another time I diced some up for salsa and taco garnish. Now, with the 13 I picked today, I'm going to do a simple pickling so I can enjoy them any time I want! (There are still buds blooming and FOUR green peppers on the plant so I can't wait to see how many more I can grow before it gets too cold outside!)

Here is my SUPER easy pickling process. (this process does NOT include heat sealing the jars, but if you wanted to know how do that, you can google it VERY quickly!)

You'll need: - 3/4c water - 3/4c distilled white vinegar - 3tbs sugar - 1tbs kosher salt - 1+ clove(s) of garlic crushed & chopped (depending on your preference, I like 2-3) - 1/2tsp oregano flakes - 10-12 peppers - 1 large or a few small mason jars (I didn't have a large one on hand, so I used two Ball brand 500ml jars that can be found here.) - 1 pair of rubber gloves for slicing the peppers (you DO NOT want to burn your eyes or more delicate areas from accidental touch with pepper oil on your fingers! Ouch!)

Mix all ingredients except peppers into a pot and bring to a boil.

Slice peppers while water mixture to come to a boil. This is where your gloves come in VERY handy! You'll want to keep as many of the seeds as possible to keep the peppers nice and hot!

Once you've stirred the peppers to coat them in the mixture, remove from element and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Use tongs to put the peppers into jars and then add the brine to fill the jars.

Because I had to use two smaller jars the brine didn't completely cover the peppers, but that's okay! Just give them a shake every now and again!

And that's all folks! Because I didn't heat seal the jars these peppers are good to go into the refrigerator and will be good for a couple weeks just the way they are! Trust me, if you're anything like me, they wont last that long!

Now to think up different recipes to incorporate these yummy and spicy peppers to! Enjoy!